1.Elizabeth Beltran
gives me undeserved credit: Jim Cummins, not Stephen Krashen, informed us that
the development of academic competence in a second language takes more than one
to two years.

2.I worry about
Elizabeth Beltran’s recommendation that we need “continuous data” on progress
in bilingual programs.This can be
misread as a demand for constant standardized testing. How about “continuous
feedback”? This would include teacher reactions, by far the most valid source
of information.

I
have a suggestion that might improve communication among language educators as
well as communication between language educators and the public.

For language education professionals, the
term “immersion” usually means subject-matter instruction through a second
language, with efforts made to make sure the language used is comprehensible to
students. For the public, however, “immersion” generally means “submersion,”
surrounding yourself with the target language, whether comprehensible or not. I
suggest we simply stop using the term “immersion.”

“Dual language” is used in two ways: It
could mean “bilingual education” in general or it could mean a specific program
known as “two-way” bilingual education.I suggest we avoid confusion by dropping the term “dual language” and
using either “bilingual education” or “two-way bilingual education.”

And please, let’s avoid creative but even
more confusing terminology such as“dual
immersion” and “bilingual immersion.”

4.Margarita
Calderon recommends direct instruction in vocabulary, reading strategies,
syntax, phonics and lots of writing “practice.”We have gathered a great deal of evidence of the years that much, maybe
all, of this is the results of self-selected pleasure reading.In addition, there is growing evidence that
students who develop a reading habit in English do not become long-term
ELLs.

(Many of my papers on this and related topics
are available for free download at www.sdkrashen.com. This includes Krashen, S. 2005. The acquisition of English by
children in two-way programs: What does the research say? In V. Gonzales and J.
Tinajero (Eds.) Review of Research and Practice, National Association for
Bilingual Education, vol 3: 1-19.AND
Dow, P., Tinafero, J. and Krashen, S.2011. A note on English language development in one-way and two-way
bilingual programs.TABE Journal 13(1):
82-87.)

Friday, February 2, 2018

It is
possible that alien (non-human, from other worlds) language will be completely
different from human languages. McKenna (1991) has suggested that aliens are
already here and are already communicating with (some of) us: the aliens are
psilocybin mushrooms and communication happens when we eat them.

Science-fiction
writers often assume that at least some aliens will use ordinary human-type
language, or languages that are easily translated into human language by
translating devices.

The
universal translator of Star-Trek has little trouble doing this, acquiring and
translating at the same time. Its occasional problems and hesitations reveal
that it operates on the principle of comprehensible input: the translator does
not try to produce and then adjust its system when the communication fails
(comprehensible output) nor does it get corrected. Rather, it listens and
understands, and gradually acquires the system (see e.g. Star Trek Deep Space
Nine, Episode 30: Sanctuary). (2)

A
great deal of communication with aliens has been reported in accounts of UFO
alien abductions. In the vast majority of cases, communication from alien to
human is telepathic (e.g. Fuller, 1966, Jacobs, 1998). It is not clear whether
the aliens understand spoken human language; Jacobs argues that human-alien communication
is also telepathic (http://www.ufoabduction.com/telepathy5.htm). Clearly,
research in this area has only begun.

Notes

1.These comments were originally part of Krashen, S.
2009. The Comprehension Hypothesis extended. In T. Piske and M. Young-Scholten
(Eds.) Input Matters in SLA. Bristol: Multilingual Matters. pp. 81-94. The
outrageous price of the book, however, made it difficult to access.

2.In general, Star Trek gets a mixed report card on language
acquisition theory. In the first episode of the series Star Trek Enterprise,
Ensign Sato was observed using a version of the audio-lingual method in
teaching an alien language at Star Fleet academy (Star Trek Enterprise, Episode
1: Broken Bow). But in a subsequent episode, Sato presented a perfect portrayal
of a Monitor over-user (Krashen, 1981), hesitant to speak without a firm
conscious knowledge of the grammatical system of an alien language. Captain
Archer persuaded her that the survival of the Enterprise was more important
than the subtleties of the future tense.

Sunday, January 21, 2018

I have a suggestion that might improve communication among
language educators as well as communication between language educators and the
public.

For language education professionals, the term “immersion”
usually means subject-matter instruction through a second language, with
efforts made to make sure the language used is comprehensible to students. For
the public, however, “immersion” generally means “submersion,” surrounding
yourself with the target language, whether comprehensible or not. I suggest we
simply stop using the term “immersion.”

“Dual language” is used in two ways: It could mean “bilingual
education” in general or it could mean a specific program known as “two-way”
bilingual education. I suggest we avoid
confusion by dropping the term “dual language” and using either “bilingual education”
or “two-way bilingual education.”

And please, let’s avoid creative but even more confusing
terminology such as “dual immersion” and
“bilingual immersion.”